Once a Bandie
by Mystic25
Summary: Band: its not just a extracurricular its a lifestyle..sorry real corny..read please..at least one review, then' l'll be happy.


"Once a Bandie.."  
Mystic25 (yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com)  
  
Going to go see the movie "Drumline" tomorrow, and I need to get myself in that mind set. I am..shall we say "retired" from the era of high school marching bands, being a sophomore in college now and all, but 4 yrs of my life was devoted to that unique group.  
  
A/N: to all the fans of my "Dark Angel" stories..you'll all be happy to know that Choices should get a new chapter up before this coming week is over. Cause next Sat. I leave for West Virgina for Christmas and won't be typing for a week..but I thought I'd try getting into that "Misc" category here at fanfic.net.   
  
DEDICATION: to all bandies, and former bandies..(basically meaning my friends in high school now and other friends who graduated before me:) ) And also to all bandies in general. The only people who can undress in front of fifteen guys (or girls) on a school bus in the dark and not have ONE of them see anything risqué, and who can "flash" hundreds of people at a football game and not have dealing with anything sexual whatsoever.  
  
PG13 Rating..down graded, cause we all know what really goes on during these "band events" lean more towards "R"  
  
*****   
  
"One day at band camp..."   
  
If I had a nickel for every time I heard that phrase..THAT'D be a lot of nickels.   
  
I had several days at band camp..in the sun..in Florida..the bad kind of sun.   
  
I never knew a flute had an angle until my section leader informed me of it.  
  
I ALSO chose that day to wear a lyrca-esque shirt and hiking boots, not a good combo.  
  
Got lectured on not consuming any milk before camp, section leader told me THAT too.  
  
Well I got her, I became a section leader..TWICE. And for everyone who's done it, the leadership thing..it has major perks.   
  
Like being able to feign sickness to get a water break early from the director. He HAS to believe you right, you're leadership.  
  
You get to lead your little section like a drill sergeant. Being called ma'am or sir has never sounded so good..never actually knew that feeling, I'm 5'1, people who came in with me still thought I was a freshman.   
  
And meeting other band's leadership at the wondrous third quarter break, which EVERYONE stretches out until the last possible second before making a mad, injury creating dash to the bleachers before the clock hits triple zeros. It puts the Olympics to shame. Meeting the other leaders is great too.  
  
You form a circle, it's like kindergarden, cept you tell who you are, your grade, and your leadership position. And EVERYONE tries at this time to hype themselves up, be larger then life. Your not just "Jess a section leader who's a senior, you're Hard Ass Jess, who made the drumline do pushups in the mud and made the quad player cry like a little girl for his mama"  
Or you become the person who did it behind the bleachers..at THIS game I mean..  
(at least according to the rumors)   
  
And this brings us to our next wonder, the football games  
  
You now actually HAVE to attend every game, if someone asks you if you went to the game last Friday you always say yes. Third quarter is a time to try and pick people up. You lookin' all hot in your wool jacket and bibber pants with sweat rolling off you, your hair all plastered and smellin' of diesel, mud and wet hairspray. Third quarter is also a time to bitch about the visiting/home band that must have sold solid gold bars to raise enough money to pay for all those props, and they have 9 tubas and a sideline that would make a mockery of the ones at DCI.   
  
And the drummers complain about that too, cept they do something about it, with the drum offs..test of your medal-er sticks. Every form of cussin' that can be gotten away with is inserted into the cadences. All the band members are there cheering for them, dissin' for them, not understanding why people are just SITTING there watching a football game, this is soooo much better. Especially if you have a drumline chick. She's usually one of those "don't give me no shit" girls, who got sick of being called a "wuss wind" (which is insanely rude..since I am a flute player) and now can blow away all the others with the snap snap b*tchin' moves she can do on her snare/base/quad/quint like playing a four minute solo and then catching the sticks in her teeth after doing a back flip with the drum still attached.   
  
Next, the bus rides...  
Yep.. if you've been there you know what I mean. It's dark, it's stanky, you hear every single song belted out by the group behind you. You manage to stash a month's worth of stuff into one duffle bag. The noises by the emergency exit seat ARE what you think they are, but right now you have DMX in your CD player.  
  
For the girls, band isn't an art until you can effectively find a way to wear jewelry in uniform and glittery makeup without getting caught. If the majorettes can do it, the so can you dammit.   
  
And after the long game you return to your bus, strip and you are now soaking wet in your own sweat without any person having touched you. The hat goes away, the unbendable, blister on blister shoes come off, the body spray comes out, and all the questions like "who has asprin?"  
"Are we eating on the way?" "Who thought the other band sucked tonight?" start coming out.  
  
You get home late, your family ask how it went.  
  
And you tell them...  
  
(fade out)  
  
*****   
  
end  
  
This may not fit every band group, but people from other bands in FL I've talked too say it's basically the same.   
  
R/R..please  
  
"To be early is to be on time. To be on time is to be late, but to be late is to never be. Therefore to be early is to never be" 


End file.
